QotW: What’s the most beautiful OEM color?

The world of nostalgics is filled with bold colors, perfectly paired two-tones and the whitest whites this side of heaven. Go to any gathering of vintage Japanese cars and it’s a feast for your retinas, a refreshing break from the seas of blandness at your local mall parking lots. So we ask:

What’s the most beautiful OEM color?

We’ve theorized before about why the Japanese love white cars so much. Tires must be black, taillights must be red. Add a canvas of white and you’ve got the three traditional colors of Japanese art. But Honda‘s Championship White isn’t just any white. It’s got hints of tan and yellow that make it look stunning on cars both vintage and modern. Plus it was reserved for only the highest spec models and had the provenance of the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix-winning Honda RA272 F1 car.

What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining, well-written, or inspiring comment by next Monday will receive a random toy. Click through to see the winner from last week’s question, “What’s the coolest kei car?”

We received many great comments touting everything from the Honda Life Step Van, to the Mazda Autozam AZ-1. However, there can be only one winner, and this week that champion is Rds, who sayeth:

Other than the always-cool Cappucino/AZ-1/Beat collection of happiness, I’m going to have to give a shout-out to the CA72V Suzuki Alto Works RS-X (and to a slightly lesser extent, the RS-R).

It has a turbo intercooled DOHC 3-cyl. It has a 12,000rpm tacho. It weighs 600kg. It has pink seats, a bonnet scoop, and the rear spoiler that almost borders the entire rear window. It has more stickers outside than paint, and if the name isn’t long enough it has a full paragraph of text on the door.

It’s a whole cars’ worth of interesting, compressed into a tiny bonneted square. I want one.

Omedetou, sir! Your prize from the JNCgashapon is an HO scale Suzuki SJ140! For more photos of the Alto Works RS-X, check out TeamMightyBoy.

30 Responses to QotW: What’s the most beautiful OEM color?

Stevestersaid:

My favorite OEM color is the pearl white by Toyota/Lexus and 1990’s Yamaha FZRs. It would be nice if I could just have some pearl mixed with a clearcoat and sprayed over my Yaris’ Super White and have it come out the same. I was quite surprised to see that even the Scion IQ comes in a pearl white.

I’m a fan of blues: Yamaha has used roughly the same one for awhile, Subaru’s Prodrive Blue will always look awesome with gold/bronze wheels, Mazda’s Laser Blue is rare, but that is not because it’s not an amazing blue color. Last but not least is Honda’s Electron Pearl Blue Mica.

“Most beautiful” is very subjective. I’m kinda weird when it comes to colors; I typically like the colors that most people don’t like. For instance, I like solid colors much more than metallic/mica/pearl ones. I also LOVE yellow. And purple (love those purple R33s). I also like a lot of two-tone colors. And like once mentioned in a post somewhere, nobody does two-tones better than the Japanese (even relatively recently Toyota was still selling Camrys here with optional two-tone schemes). The two-tone coloring that has always caught my eyes were on the 2nd-generation Mitsubishi Pajero Super Exceed, with a contrasting color running along the middle of the truck. My favorites were the champagne/green and silver/blue. They looked a bit corny, but I’ve always liked ‘em. Mitsubishi has since brought this scheme back on the most recent Pajero, again on the Super Exceed grade: http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/pajero/grade/gra_01.html. It’s very distinctive, and I’m glad it’s back.

Chartreuse, perhaps better known as ‘Datsun 112 Yellow’. Is there anything else that screams ‘1970s’ more than the elegant lines of a 240z, adorned with the most neck-snapping, controversial, love it or hate it lime green you’d ever seen at the time?

Whilst Championship white is definitely one of the best colours, it is hard to overlook Nissan’s #700, the ‘Glare Silver Metallic’ colour which was popularised by the KPGC10 GTR and other models. It fits the car extraordinarily well, bringing out its subtle shapes and lines, especially the ‘surf line’ at the rear quarter of the car.

Even today, it is by far the most popular vintage skyline colour, especially for GTR replicas. It is definitely one of the most iconic nostalgic japanese colours.

Well keeping the trend of white OEM colors I believe that the best OEM color is Aspen White from Subaru. It is one of the most overlooked colors in the whole Subaru line up. While most people go for the most common and popular colors like the rally blue or the metallic silver, I waited and waited until an Aspen White GC8 came around. It is just such a clean color and so pure. It also has the power after a good wash and wax to burn your retinas on a sunny day.

Fly Yellow: It has to be on the right car obviously…but I love the perfect balance it strikes between a bright yellow and a VERY subtle touch of burnt orange that makes it a nice rich color instead of just looking ridiculous:http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTA2NlgxNjAw/$(KGrHqF,!ncE-)u!kK6oBPuS7Fspcg~~60_1.JPG?set_id=8800005007

I could go on and on with this one! Cascade green, etc…also come to mind.

To me it is, without question, Mazda’s Competition Yellow Mica. The color is a beautiful pearl yellow with flakes of a beautiful roasted orange, rich gold, and a pure silver. The color is absolutely beautiful, especially on the Fd Rx7 where it beautifully compliments every little curve the simplistic and timeless body has to offer like a tight fitting dress on a beautiful woman. The color is so rich and perfect for the car. You would never think you would find beauty in a yellow, but i recently had the pleasure to see one up close only a few weeks ago and was infatuated by its beauty. Im around a lot of Fds from day to day, but no color complements that car so well.

my definitv answer would go to toyota indigo ink pear (8P4)
i first saw that color on a toyota echo(indigo ink pearl). i was like ”that’s a badass
color for just an echo”… few years later got an toyota echo(indigo ink pearl) with that
same color(indigo ink pearl). turns out the car is kinda fun for an echonomie car.
any decent car would look awesome with that colour(indigo ink pearl) and some black, withe, bronze or black TE37’s and stuff. my car looks kinda badass because of that color(indigo ink pearl) …and trust its not my weekend car. i bet its the real color(indigo ink pearl) of the devilZ from wangan midnight in real life. if not well i should. i didn’t get to see much other toyotas with that color(indigo ink pearl) exept some prius,corollas and some limited editions celica. the color(indigo ink pearl) may be underrated because of the few not so badass looking cars that were to few chosen to receive this color(indigo ink pearl)
but google it or something and go out and seek and you’ll seen its a badass looking color
(indigo ink pearl)

It would have to be the Jade Green from the Acura RSX Type S. Looks sexy gray in certain angles and when you are close enough to give it kisses and hugs, you are seduced by a super unique green. Hell, even the Caribbean Blue from the ’03 G35 Coupe would do it for me all over again. This color on the G is not too common and just looks amazing when the sun comes up and sets its rays upon the gleaming skin, and looks refreshing when the sun goes down and its sunsets reflect off it and set off an Aurora like color.

I am going to go with the FD RX7 Montego Blue Mica, which is a dark color that goes all over the place depending on the light, and is also a color that people are familiar with. My real choice is 1985 RX7 Rhyl Blue Metallic, which is actually an aqua to teal-ish silver, very bright and kind of like shiny minty candy. May not look very good on any other car, but a shiny minty candy 1985 RX7 would be a real sweet ride for a sweet but sassy redheaded gal.

I’m not even a “honda guy” and I will have to agree; Champ White is a beautiful color that was exclusive to their best models. There are others that may be just as nice, but just don’t have the classical feel of Champ White.

The most beautiful color should surely depend on what it’s laying on? There are colors that are definitive, depending on what they’re on: Subarus in WR blue, R32 Skylines in that charcoal/gunmetal grey, early RX7s in green (despite all of the ads showing them in silver), silver hakosuka and kenmeri GTRs, the ’88 4WS Prelude in banana yellow, the ’83 Camry in red-bronze with gold rockers. That Camry paint scheme wouldn’t work on an R32 Skyline (would it?), and I don’t know if Prelude banana yellow would either. Similarly, a lot of cars’ lines would disappear under the R32’s gunmetal grey cloak.

That said, I think the idea of color, period, is beautiful. In a world where black, silver, grey and white comprise 75 percent of the new-car colors rolling out of the factory, and other colors being less intensive (ie, not gold but champagne, not red but a maroon so dark it looks black in many lighting conditions), the idea of anything being red, yellow, blue or green automatically makes it more eye-catching and interesting.

Classic “Nissan Jade Metallic”. Enough panache for grandad’s Aston, but still pops like Porsche Red without all the fanfare. If Watanabes are the little black dress… This paint is the dude who finds out if she’s wearing underwear.

I have to agree that true beauty is directly linked to what it’s laying on. None of the ‘high-impact’ colours from Chrysler’s late ’60s/early ’70s would look good on a VIP/Bippu car (i.e. Sub-Lime on a LS400). I honestly could never pick a singular colour as the ‘all-time best'; there are so many beautiful, engaging colours out there to choose from. In the end, the best colour is the one you feel looks best on whichever given vehicle. No matter how distasteful the next gent may think it is.

If I had to pick one color for everything it’d be a deep/bright metallic blue – not only red taillights and matte black tires/trim pop against it, but chrome trim and headlights do as well, which tend to wash out against white.